Photo by drewbsaunders

In what will surely come as a relief to DCist readers, the Examiner’s Michael Neibauer reports this morning that the Adams Morgan Taxi Stand pilot program has been torpedoed after less than three months. What’s especially interesting is that the program was apparently discontinued by DDOT all the way back in December, though as far as we know, the agency never announced that change. DDOT issued formal notice on Friday that the 90-day pilot program has been postponed.

The taxi stand pilot program had been designed to prevent cabs from picking up passengers on busy 18th Street between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, instead pushing them all to one of two taxi stands, either at 18th and Kalorama, or behind the SunTrust Bank at 18th and Columbia.

Taxi stand proponents are quoted in the article blaming cold weather for the program’s failure and insisting that the stands could return to 18th Street in the spring. But previous stories and observations noted that the taxi stand program’s problems went much deeper than long waits in chilly temperatures: absentee staff at the taxi stands, cab drivers who ignored or didn’t know the rules, Adams Morgan patrons who ignored or didn’t know the rules, and everyone trying to outsmart the system by simply walking to a side street and hailing a cab there.

Given the overwhelming failure of the program, it certainly seems unlikely there will be enough support to bring it back in anything like its previous form in the near future.